Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.
[I originally wrote this for an internal presentation at Zwift. After reading Daniel Noah Halpern's book about Tom Caldwell, the head of design at Riot Games, and about game design more generally, I decided to update it and post it publicly.] Chris Crawford originally published The Art of Computer Game Design in 1984. In 2011, … Continue reading The Art of Computer Game Design
In this last of my three part autobiographical series, I'd like to explore the influence of engineering, both as a discipline and as a way of thinking, in my life. My maternal grandfather, Al Demont, was an electrical engineer. He was one of two young men in the Worchester Polytechnic Institute class of 1931 - in the midst of The Great Depression - to get a job, working for the General Electric corporation. He worked for GE for over forty years until he retired, working on everything from consumer appliances to military technology (during WWII). When I think of engineers, I think of my grandfather.
Gamification is an unfortunately overused and abused word. It's come to be a substitute for basically anything that abuses the brain's dopamine reward system. But that's not how I think about games. When I think about games, I think specifically about puzzles and problems to be solved. In Part 2 of my miniature autobiography, I'd like to talk about games as an influence on my life and professional career.
Why did I decide to stay in the Gaming industry rather than the Cycling - or Fitness - industries? In terms of professional experience, I certainly have more in the latter than in the former. But in terms of passions, my heart really does lies in the former. There are two things I'll share about myself, one of which will probably surprise no one, and the other of which might surprise most. The first is that I am a loner...
[I wrote this content for Diamondback in 2017 when I was sponsored by them. As November 2020, you can still find it on the Diamondback blog, but you're never sure whether these things will stick around. So unless I've posted something on Slowtwitch, where I have control over whether or not it sticks around, I … Continue reading 1X Friction Profiles
Today is my last day as a Zwift employee. As I look back over the past three years, and the more than five years that I've been a Zwift user, I wanted to share my thoughts on what Zwift has meant to me. Even though I'll continue to ride on Zwift, it will inevitably be … Continue reading Reflections On Zwift
March was all about cadence, though the highlight was really getting to spend a morning at the track with Coach Greg, who was in town for the annual Zwift company-wide weekly meeting. It was nice to spend time with him both to confirm the things that we're doing right and what we need to work … Continue reading Marching Forward. Big Gears. Big Gainz.
For more than a decade (since 2008), I've been fueling my athletic endeavors with First Endurance. In that time, the products have changed (oh how I miss you, Grape EFS...) and evolved (no more sucralose); new products have come (EVO1!) and gone (remember the bar?); but mostly things have stayed the same - the best, … Continue reading New Journey. Same Fuel.
Data have always been critical to endurance athletes and coaches. But as computing power has allowed for increasingly powerful number crunching in increasing smaller packages, the amount of data available can become noisy, overwhelming, paralyzing, and - at worst - totally useless. Wahoo’s series of ELEMNT cycling computers presents more data than any cyclist could … Continue reading Zone Training With LEDs
I had aspired to doing these monthly, but well, it's the beginning of March already. The past nine-ish weeks of training with Coach Greg Henderson have been incredibly rewarding, both in terms of getting faster but also just in terms of really enjoying the sport in a new way. While I'm obviously performance-driven, I've done … Continue reading The First Two Months. Or How Coach Hendy Made Me Understand The Track… A Little.
Jordan Rapp 